Chapter 28
Descent into the Abyss:
World War I and the Crisis of the European Global Order
- I. Introduction
- A. WWI – Great War – key turning point in world history
- 1. Due to imperialism, European war spread throughout world
- a. Resources and manpower sucked in from across globe
- b. Japan/US join struggle for global dominance
- 2. Weakened or shattered existing global systems
- 1. Due to imperialism, European war spread throughout world
- B. What led to conflict in different theaters
- 1. Western Front
- 2. Central/eastern Europe
- 3. Middle East
- 4. Sub-Saharan Africa
- C. To what extent did war undermine colonial empires and lead to end of European dominance?
- A. WWI – Great War – key turning point in world history
- II. The Coming of the Great War
- A. Hostile Alliances and Armaments Races
- 1. Fear of Germany
- a. Industrial strength, military potential, aggressive leader – Wilhelm
- b. Led to alliances
- i. Triple Entente – Russia, France, Britain – two front war
- ii. Triple Alliance – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
- 1. Italy not that excited – doesn’t like Austria-Hungary
- i. Switches sides in 1915
- 1. Italy not that excited – doesn’t like Austria-Hungary
- 2. Imperial rivalries getting stronger
- a. Prestige of nation linked to size of empire
- i. Ran out of areas to colonize
- 1. Climax – Morocco annex French – Germany tries stop
- b. Jingoism – super warlike nationalism – middle/working class caught up
- i. Ran out of areas to colonize
- a. Prestige of nation linked to size of empire
- 3. Arms race
- a. Intense/costly
- b. Germany’s navy threatens Britain’s centuries control of seas
- c. Arms limitations agreements failed
- d. Constantly practiced maneuvers – moved troops – always prepared
- i. Pushed for preemptive strike
- e. Russia getting stronger
- 4. Foreign policy connected to domestic problems
- a. Business classes challenged by labor/lower classes
- b. Foreign wars distracts from domestic problems
- i. Can always say “Let’s ignore labor problems, for sake of nation”
- c. Proletariat/business owners benefit
- i. Poor/disenchanted have jobs
- ii. Industrialists get to make more products – win/win
- 1. Fear of Germany
- B. The Outbreak of the War
- 1. Balkans become center of crisis
- a. Ethnically diverse, wants independence, Russia supports Serbs
- b. July 1914 Gavriel Princip assassinates heir Archduke Ferdinand
- 2. Austro-Hungary assumes Germany will support – “blank check”
- a. Forces war – trying to maintain unquestioned monarchical status
- 3. Russians support Slavic brothers
- 4. Regional conflict turns continental – armies mobilized
- a. Inept diplomacy – letters from Wilhelm to Nicholas II
- b. War inevitable
- c. War could sort out tensions
- 5. Confusion – mobilization a threat or actual war
- a. Germany decides to strike first – avoid two-front war – Von Schlieffen
- 6. Germany goes through Belgium – Britain declares war
- a. All of Britain’s colonial holdings brought into war
- 1. Balkans become center of crisis
- A. Hostile Alliances and Armaments Races
- III. A World at War
- A. The War in Europe
- 1. Leads to stalemate – Germany’s quick strike fails
- a. German speed not enough for Belgium fighting, British support, France regroups
- b. Trench warfare – protection from artillery/machine guns
- c. Impossible to win
- d. New ways of dying – machine guns, artillery, poison gas, barbed wire
- 1. Rats/Lice-infested trenches
- 2. Senseless slaughter – life uncivilized in trenches
- e. Generals using outdated strategies – no imagination – aged officer corps
- 1. Leads to stalemate – Germany’s quick strike fails
- B. The War in the East and Italy
- 1. Russian weaknesses – highest casualty numbers
- a. Aristocratic generals – not meritocracy
- b. Illiterate/poorly trained peasants
- c. Uncoded commands
- d. Russian artillery controlled by upper class
- 2. Nicholas II goes in to leave – bad idea – while cat’s away
- 3. Austro-Hungarians
- a. Soldiers not that excited to fight for emperor
- 4. Common theme
- a. Incompetent leaders
- b. Annoyed/fatalistic soldiers
- c. Corrupt/stupid politicians
- 1. Russian weaknesses – highest casualty numbers
- C. The Homefronts in Europe
- 1. Soldiers annoyance with civilians
- a. Leaders safe from harm
- b. Civilians overly patriotic, unrealistic about realities of war
- c. Inexhaustible supply of civilians to mobilize to troops
- 2. Governments take control
- a. To avoid protests/labor strikes, companies taken over by state
- b. Newspapers censored – propaganda departments
- 1. Enemy dehumanized
- 2. Weaknesses/defeats ignored – eventual defeat shocking
- 3. Civilian population becomes targets
- 4. Changes sped up
- a. Trade union chiefs given power - they can mobilize working class
- b. But eventually labor begins protesting/uniting against war
- c. Shortages of food/fuel lead to mass protests
- d. Women get more power
- 1. Capable of working in heavy industry – destroys domain notion
- 2. Better wages/experience/confidence sparked movement
- 3. Independence – clothes, smoking, unchaperoned – “new woman
- 4. Gained right to vote in Britain, Germany, and US
- 1. Soldiers annoyance with civilians
- D. The War Outside Europe
- 1. Except Austria-Hungary – all Europe had colonies
- a. Used colonies for manpower, resources
- 1. Resources – food, natural resources, textiles – U-boats try
- 2. Colony’s citizens
- a. Settler colonies – used to enforce manpower
- b. India fought Middle East and Africa
- c. French use Vietnamese/African laborers
- a. Used colonies for manpower, resources
- 2. Fighting spreads to Middle East, West/East Africa, China
- a. Only S. America not really involved
- 3. Britain’s navy
- a. Cut off Germany from food, raw materials
- b. Controlled trans-Atlantic cable lines
- 4. Japan – allied with Britain 1902
- a. Excuse to kick Germany out of Shandong peninsula
- 1. Led to imperialistic ambitions later on
- a. German islands taken became launching centers WWII
- 1. Led to imperialistic ambitions later on
- a. Excuse to kick Germany out of Shandong peninsula
- 5. Germany’s support
- a. African soldiers – East Africa
- b. Ottoman Empire – main support – Young Turks enter in 1915
- 1. Defeated in campaign against Russia – blamed on Armenians
- a. Some Armenians supported Russians, others neutral
- b. Genocide kills one million
- 1. Defeated in campaign against Russia – blamed on Armenians
- 6. US becomes global power
- a. American businesses profited – food, raw materials, weapons
- b. Becomes world’s largest creditor
- c. Supported British – Angolphile
- d. By 1918, #s forced Germany to launch offensive
- 1. Except Austria-Hungary – all Europe had colonies
- E. Endgame: The Return of Offensive Warfare
- a. Early 1918, Germany on the roll
- a. Million troops from Eastern front – Russia out of war
- b. But…US soldiers, new weapons – tanks, casualties, exhaustion
- b. Generals surrender – fear of army collapse + home rebellion
- a. Generals blame on new government
- b. Must accept treaty rules of British and French
- c. Propaganda left German civilians shocked
- d. Hitler would later claim Germany stabbed in the back
- c. Costs - Millions died in war
- a. Millions more died of influenza after – thanks for sharing
- b. Land and economies destroyed
- a. Early 1918, Germany on the roll
- A. The War in Europe
- IV. Failed Peace – “A Peace to End All Peace”
- A. Different perspectives
- a. French – punishment – Georges Clemenceau
- a. Germany take all blame, pay reparations, shrink size of country
- b. US – Woodrow Wilson - peace for everyone - optimist
- a. Self-determination – call for rights of people
- b. 14 points
- c. League of Nations
- c. Britain – David Lloyd George
- a. If Germany weak, communist revolution possible
- a. French – punishment – Georges Clemenceau
- B. Peace of Paris – diktat – dictated peace – Germany has no say
- a. Austro-Hungarian Empire broken up – Germanic Austria cut off
- b. New nations get chunks of Germany
- C. Problems
- a. Russian Bolsheviks not invited
- b. Wartime promises to Arabs ignored – divided up empires
- c. China left on its own
- d. Ho Chi Minh – Vietnamese leader ignored
- e. US Congress vetoed – League of Nations
- A. Different perspectives
- V. World War I and the Nationalist Assault on the European Colonial Order
- A. Introduction
- 1. Subjugated peoples of colonies question status
- a. Europeans fighting each other
- b. Industrialized to help out war effort – India becomes industrialized
- c. Europeans ordered Africans/Asians to kill other Europeans
- d. Colonial leaders went to battlefield – left void
- i. Gave administrative responsibility to natives
- e. Initially made promises from British/French – then reneged
- f. Questioned racial superiority theory – wait, these guys are bright
- g. Social/economic problems make it easier to motivate mass protests
- 1. Subjugated peoples of colonies question status
- B. India: The Makings of the Nationalist Challenge to the British Raj
- 1. India subjugated longer than Africa
- a. Educated elite organized politically
- b. Due to size, importance – their efforts pioneer other efforts
- 2. Egypt will also be center of nationalistic organization
- 3. Key themes in independence movements
- a. Western-educated elites
- b. charismatic leaders take message and spread to masses
- c. reliance on nonviolent forms of protest
- 4. Indian National Congress Party
- a. Started as educated study clubs
- b. Started in 1885 with consent from British – method of dialogue to prevent protest – little did they know
- c. Ineffective at first
- i. Focused on elite Indian issues
- ii. Few if any full-time members
- iii. Didn’t have support of the masses
- iv. Members loyal to British
- d. Gradually realized they were treated in racist manner
- e. Many were lawyers
- f. Gradually created common Indian identity
- i. Tough to do since more diverse than all of European continent
- ii. Amazing what having a common enemy/foreign ruler can do
- 1. India subjugated longer than Africa
- C. Social Foundations of a Mass Movement
- 1. What would be issue to galvanize support?
- a. Preferential treatment for British investors
- b. Drain of Indian resources
- c. Indian money spent for British wars or pay for British government
- d. Infrastructure built using British manufactured goods
- i. Only reinforced colonial dependency relationship
- e. Decline in food production to make cash crops for Britain
- i. Poverty increased under British rule
- ii. British can’t help indebtedness and small landowner
- 1. What would be issue to galvanize support?
- D. The Rise of Militant Nationalism
- 1. Religious based issues – aka cow – ignored by Muslims
- a. Some believed Muslim perspective should be ignored – BG Tilak
- i. Believed in restoration of Hindu traditions
- ii. Lower wedding age, no women’s education,
- b. Used Hindu festivals as political meetings
- c. Tilak’s militant Hinduism confined to Bombay region
- i. Imprisoned by British when his violent writing found
- ii. Exiled to Burma
- a. Some believed Muslim perspective should be ignored – BG Tilak
- 2. Hindu communalist terrorists
- a. Bengalis – secret terrorist societies
- i. Get strong, tough, learn firearms and bombs
- b. Bomb British buildings/officials/ sometimes expats
- c. Essentially controlled by World War I
- a. Bengalis – secret terrorist societies
- 3. Issues calmed with government reforms
- a. Morley-Minto reforms – 1909 – voting rights/Indian councils
- 1. Religious based issues – aka cow – ignored by Muslims
- E. The Emergence of Gandhi and the Spread of the Nationalist Struggle
- 1. India helped a ton during WWI
- a. soldiers, bankers loaned money, sold British War Bonds – Gandhi
- b. Eventually Indians became annoyed with situation
- i. Wartime inflation hurts products
- ii. Products can’t be shipped – blockades
- iii. Laborers wages don’t go far – but bosses getting rich
- 2. British promised India eventual independence if they helped war effort
- a. Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms – 1919
- i. Indians could control issues in provinces
- b. But…Rowlatt Act
- i. Prevented power of these groups
- ii. Censored press
- a. Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms – 1919
- 3. Mohandas Gandhi enters scene
- a. Appealed to educated and the masses, moderates and radicals
- i. Nonviolent but aggressive methods of protest
- ii. Peaceful boycotts, strikes, noncooperation, mass demonstrations
- 1. Satyagraha – term given to his methods – truth force
- 2. Weakens British control
- 3. British can’t legitimately employ superior weapons
- 4. Bring negative press to British – international community
- b. Western-educated lawyer – understood strengths/weaknesses of Brits
- i. Great negotiator
- c. Hindu ascetic/guru
- i. Appealed to masses – tradition of following mystic
- ii. This appeal to masses made him important to nationalists
- a. Appealed to educated and the masses, moderates and radicals
- 1. India helped a ton during WWI
- F. Egypt and the Rise of Nationalism in the Middle East
- 1. Nationalism already existed in Egypt – double-mad – Brits and Turks
- 2. Lord Cromer tried to reform to solve problems
- a. But…Turkish khedives too in debt
- b. Tries economic reforms
- c. Tries new public works projects
- d. But…poor still starving to death, landlords/elites getting wealthy
- i. Ayan – landlords get rich
- 1. Get paid money for infrastructure building
- 2. Build larger and larger estates
- 3. Moved to cities and let estates be run by hired managers
- i. Ayan – landlords get rich
- 3. So…khedives and ayans useless – sold out to British
- a. Enter middle class – small, but growing
- i. Sons of middle class (effendi) led way
- ii. Many were journalists
- 1. Printed problems in society – like US muckrakers
- a. British racist arrogance/monopolization of jobs
- 1. Printed problems in society – like US muckrakers
- b. Congress party formed in 1890s, but many other groups exist as well
- i. Nationalist parties can’t unite
- a. Enter middle class – small, but growing
- 4. Dinshawi incident – showed tendency of Brits to overreact violently to signs of protest
- a. While hunting pigeons, British accidentally shot wife of prayer leader
- i. Riots ensue, shots fired, British hang four villagers and floggings
- b. Became catalyst to unite groups – common enemy enough to put aside different
- a. While hunting pigeons, British accidentally shot wife of prayer leader
- 5. In 1913, Egypt granted constitution for wealthy classes to run
- a. Messed up due to WWI, Brit gov’t had to take over control
- b. But…precedent had been set
- G. War and Nationalist Movements in the Middle East
- 1. Ottoman Empire destroyed by WWI – the sick man is dead
- a. Greeks try to carve up Turkey, but Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) – rallied forces
- i. Leads to new Turkish republic nation in 1923
- 1. New Latin alphabet
- 2. Women’s suffrage
- 3. Attempts to secularize nation
- i. Leads to new Turkish republic nation in 1923
- 2. Middle East – Brits/French promised independence
- a. Instead they occupied region – Syria, Lebanon, Iraq
- b. Hussein – sherif of Mecca looks stupid – sided with infidels against Tukish Muslims
- i. Not very pleased with new mandate system – run by Brits/French
- 3. And then there’s Palestine…the big problem
- a. British promised different things to both sides during WWI – just support us
- i. Balfour Declaration
- ii. Hussein-McMahon correspondence
- iii. Churchill White Paper
- b. Zionist movement (Creating Jewish Homeland) pushing for decades for emigration to Palestine
- i. Russian Pogroms – kicked out Jews
- ii. Diaspora – Jews wandering without a homeland for thousands of years
- iii. Jews can’t be assimilated into Christian nations – Lord Pinkser
- iv. Prior to 1890s, most Jews didn’t support creation of Jewish nation
- a. Happy with their citizenship/civil rights
- v. But…after Dreyfus Affair…French Jew blamed for being a spy
- a. Journalist Theodor Herzl forms World Zionist Organization
- b. Want Jewish nation – problem #s – must have emigration
- c. Arabs feel betrayed > Brits pull back support > Jews feel betrayed
- d. Arabs never mount formidable opposition – Jews highly organized
- i. Set up pattern of foreign Arabs speaking for Palestinian Arabs
- ii. Palestinian Arabs should have been educated
- a. British promised different things to both sides during WWI – just support us
- a. Greeks try to carve up Turkey, but Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) – rallied forces
- 1. Ottoman Empire destroyed by WWI – the sick man is dead
- H. Revolt in Egypt, 1919
- 1. Egyptian peasants destroyed by war
- a. Resources drained to feed soldiers protecting Suez Canal
- b. Food shortages, starvation, confiscation of animals
- 2. Insulted by Versailles ignoring of delegation – wafd
- 3. Riots began across nation
- a. Started by students
- b. Women joined – some western educated wearing veils
- c. Eventually Brits regain control, but precedent set
- 4. Wafd Party – Sa’d Zaghlul – started
- 5. Brits pulled out between 1922 and 1936
- a. But…could still come back if foreign power threatened – Suez Canal
- 6. Egypt spent next 30 years spiraling into chaos
- a. Wealthy classes only improved their lives, plunged nation into despair
- i. peasants - 95% of eye disease, 98% illiterate
- a. Wealthy classes only improved their lives, plunged nation into despair
- 1. Egyptian peasants destroyed by war
- I. The Beginnings of the Liberation Struggle in Africa
- 1. Educated Africans initially loyal to Brits/French
- 2. War changed all that
- a. Rebellions due to forced recruitment/labor
- b. Starvation to feed soldiers
- c. Merchants suffer from shipping shortages
- 3. Britain doesn’t come through on all promises after war – jobs and public honors
- 4. Attempts to create pan-African Movement
- a. But…started by African Americans or West Indies
- b. At least pushed anti-colonial spirit
- 5. Negritude literary movement – life actually better before – women, ole people, sex
- 6. Political organizations created – though with little impact
- 7. Some nations gave representative gov’t
- 8. Newspapers used to win support
- A. Introduction
- VI. Global Connections
- A. WWI hurt Europe’s economy, helped rival, growing powers
- B. Wartime hardships increased already existing tensions
- C. Labor parties get more powerful
- D. New place for women and scientific theories – challenge conservative ideas
- E. Some nations increase empires, but…nationalist sentiment also increases
- F. White men superior argument losing its value
- G. Russia, US and Japan all had vested interest in bringing down Western Europe – diff reasons -->